Trinity Forum Conversations

• Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto Fujimura

  Throughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.If at the center of reality is a God whose love is a generative, creative force, how do humans made in God’s image begin to reflect this beauty and love in a world rent by brokenness and ugliness?As Makoto Fujimura argues on our latest podcast, it’s in the act of making that we are able to experience the depth of God’s being and grace, and to realize an integral part of our humanity:“Love, by definition, is something that goes way outside of utilitarian values and efficiencies and industrial bottom lines. It has to…and when we love, I think we make. That's just the way we are made, and we respond to that making. So we make, and then when we receive that making, we make again.”Artistry and creativity are not just formative, but even liturgical in that they shape our understanding of, orientation towards, and love for, both the great creator and his creation.We hope you’re encouraged in your making this Lenten season that the God who created you in his image delights in your delight.If this podcast inspires you, and you’re so inclined, we’d love to see what you create, be that a painting, a meal, a poem, or some other loving, artistic expression. Feel free to share it with us by tagging us on your favorite social platform.This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2021. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Makoto Fujimura.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, by Makoto FujimuraWilliam BlakeVincent Van GoghN.T. WrightEsther MeekJaques PépinBruce HermanMartin Luther King Jr.The Gift, by Lewis HydeAmanda GoldmanT. S. EliotCalvin SilveDavid BrooksRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Babette's Feast, by Isak DinesenFour Quartets, by T.S. EliotPilgrim’s Progress, by John BunyanPilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie DillardGod’s Grandeur, by Gerard Manley HopkinsRelated Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteMusic, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydPursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda QuinnReading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten WilsonWalking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark BuchananTo listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society.

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• The Blessing of Limitations with Kelly Kapic

  Throughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.We live in an age of speed and overwhelm, where we often feel we are expected to do more, move faster, work harder, brush past boundaries and limits, and shave margins. When we inevitably fail to meet all demands, we are left feeling not only exhausted, but often diminished."Part of what you start to see is ... our limits ... is actually what fosters our relationship with God, with others, even with the earth ... it's the stuff of life." But what if, instead of seeing our limitations as an impediment, we could learn to view them as a blessing, even a gift? In You’re Only Human, theologian and scholar Kelly Kapic provides a theologically grounded approach to understanding and receiving the gift of our human finitude.He offers us a way to find joy and relief in our incarnational limits and use them to foster greater freedom, spiritual growth, and deeper community.This podcast is drawn from our Online Conversation from December 2022. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.Learn more about Kelly Kapic.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:You’re Only Human, by Kelly KapicEmbodied Hope, by  Kelly KapicThe God Who Gives, by Kelly KapicThe Devoted Life, by Kelly KapicBecoming Whole, by Kelly KapicWendell BerryThe Sabbath, by Abram Joshua HeschelRobert EmmonsRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Bright Evening Star, Madeleine L’EngleA Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens Babette’s Feast, by Isak DinesenRelated Conversations:Practicing Gratitude with Diana Butler BassBeauty and Wonder with Andrew PetersonTime and Hope with James K.A. SmithBeauty from Darkness with Curt ThompsonTo listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society

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• Pursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn

  Pursuing Humility, with Richard Foster and Brenda QuinnThroughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.In an age when self-promotion is often celebrated as a sign of leadership and strength, humility may seem a lost virtue. In his work Learning Humility, theologian Richard Foster argues that humility is actually strength, releasing us from a preoccupation with self, and allowing us to live a life of freedom:“One of the dangers among religious folks is that they can become stuffy bores. And it is hilarity that frees us from that. We don't take ourselves so seriously. We can laugh at our own foibles. If you look carefully… it's not hard to identify humble people. You'll find the freedom that they have to just enjoy life and enjoy other people, enjoy the successes of another person rather than being envious of it. Things like that. And so that's why humility, the most basic of the virtues, opens us up to a life of freedom.”May Foster’s call to humility, and pastor and writer Brenda Quinn’s practical insights on living it out in leadership and community, inspire you this Lenten season to contemplate the humility of Jesus and the way of the cross.This podcast is an edited version of a conversation recorded in 2022. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:Learning Humility, by Richard FosterCelebration of Discipline, by Richard FosterStreams of Living Water, by Richard FosterSanctuary of the Soul, by Richard FosterThe Life With God Bible, contributed to by Richard FosterC.S. LewisTimothy KellerThe Frenzy of RenownRelated Trinity Forum Readings:The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy DayBrave New World, by Aldous HuxleyWho Stands Fast, featuring Dietrich BonhoefferBabette's Feast, by Isak DinesenWrestling with God, by Simone Weil Related Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteMusic, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydTo listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society

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• Reading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten Wilson

  Throughout the season of Lent, we'll be releasing weekly episodes focused on themes of reflection, prayer, and contemplation. As you listen to this episode, we invite you to take a moment to slow down, quiet your heart, and hear what God may be saying to you. What if we viewed reading as not just a personal hobby or a pleasurable indulgence but as a spiritual practice that deepens our faith?In her book, Reading for the Love of God, award-winning author and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Jessica Hooten Wilson explores how Christian thinkers—including Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Sayers—approached the act of reading.She argues that reading deeply and well can not only open a portal to a broader imagination, but is akin to acquiring travel supplies for the good life:“What I'm hoping to see more of is that the church becomes again those people of the book that really try to make others belong and strive for a deeper connection, versus the party atmosphere that our world always is tempting us to do.”We hope you’re encouraged this Lenten season as you learn to read as a spiritual practice, finding grace and wisdom for living well along the way.This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2023. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Jessica Hooten Wilson.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds That Came Before, by Jessica Hooten WilsonGiving the Devil His Due, by Jessica Hooten WilsonThe Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, by Jessica Hooten WilsonReading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice,, by Jessica Hooten WilsonWalker Percy

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• Silence and Solitude with Ruth Haley Barton

  In the first episode of our weekly Lenten series, we invite you to take a moment to slow down, quiet your heart, and hear what God may be saying to you. Throughout the season of Lent, we'll be releasing weekly episodes focused on themes of reflection, prayer, and contemplation.On March 19, 2021 we were delighted to host Christian author, leader, and teacher, Ruth Haley Barton. Barton is founding President/CEO of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of Christian leaders and the congregations and organizations they serve. Ruth is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life, including Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership and Sacred Rhythms. She reflects regularly on spirituality and leadership in her blog, Beyond Words, and on her podcast Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership.We hope you enjoy this conversation around her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence. Our attention, Barton believes, has become a commodity that we must protect if we are to avoid being swept away by our distracted age. She invites listeners to engage in these ancient biblical practices to find the rest for our souls that Jesus promises. In this Lenten season, we hope this will inspire you to pursue God’s transforming presence in new ways and contemplatively sit in solitude and silence with the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Learn more about Ruth Haley Barton. Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from March 19, 2021. Related reading:A Shocking Lack of Solitude, Cherie Harder Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:Blaise PascalJohn MiltonC.S. LewisRichard RohrDallas WillardHenry NouwenShop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. CrawfordRabbi Abraham Joshua HeschelJulian of NorwichInvitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence, by Ruth Haley Barton Related Trinity Forum Readings:Confessions | A Trinity Forum Reading by St. Augustine, introduced by James K.A. Smith.Pilgrim at Tinker Creek | A Trinity Forum Reading by Annie Dillard, introduced by Tish Harrison Warren.Devotions | A Trinity Forum Reading by John Donne, introduced and paraphrased by Philip Yancey.The Long Loneliness | A Trinity Forum Reading by Dorothy Day, introduced by Anne and David Brooks.Wrestling with God | A Trinity Forum Reading by Simone Weil, introduced by Alonzo McDonald.The Pilgrim's Progress | A Trinity Forum Reading by John Bunyan, introduced by Alonzo McDonald.

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